Claude Monet's 1873 reproduction, In the countryside, a vivid splash of poppies seems to move in a gentle breeze. Monet has made the red poppies and the green field effectively equiluminant. The position of the poppies seems uncertain. To many viewers, they appear to quiver. Painted in the wildflower fields outside Argenteuil, this painting reveals Monet's passion for color. With dabs of red, he scatters the blooms in a natural profusion across the lush green fields. In the foreground, he sketches in the figures of Camille and Jean with simple strokes of violet, black, and white. Their figures appear again at the top of the hills in the distance, more a suggestion of color than an accurate record of their appearance.
|
)
